Of Foxes and Wolves
by MintNight-Ly
Summary: When 15 year old chunin, Ren, notices Naruto's hidden nature, she starts to drag his true self out, bit by bit. They find out they have more in common than they had initially thought. Watch as they work to make a better world for their broken selves. OC


My first (posted) fanfiction. It came to me in the spark of the moment and I couldn't resist... Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Sasuke would not be turning out as such a bastard.

_~~~ Start ~~~_

**Friday, 1 week before the Chunin Exams. Training ground 7; 03:25PM**

"Alright, team is dismissed..." Kakashi. In Ren's opinion, he was a master hypocrite. Telling his poor students to look underneath the underneath when he himself didn't even bother to look. He also seemed to be able to press all her buttons and was annoyingly insightful on anything but his team.

"Hai!" Sakura. The girl who called Naruto the burden of the team and idolized the other male in her cell. After 3 days, Ren was certain Sakura was no more than a naïve girl with a glass-breaking screech that was utterly useless in all aspects except as a walking textbook.

"Hn." Sasuke. A boy with an infuriating superiority complex. Ren had had to refrain from strangling the child more times than she could care to count and had only held back because she could see the lost look in his eyes. A look that told her he was acting that way to protect his fragile mind.

"Alright! RAMEN!" Naruto. This enigma puzzled her to no end. She could see the hurt look that flashed across his face each time someone made a scalding comment and yet he still insisted on keeping that mask on. A mask that told her he knew more than he let on, but still let them hurt him.

This was Team 7, the dysfunctional team that Ren had been assigned to to teach when Kakashi had requested a taijutsu specialist to help his team improve their ridiculous forms. That was 3 days ago. Giggling, the Tokubetsu Jonin remembered the bewildered look on the cyclops' face when she had announced that she was the specialist he had sent for, followed shortly by the disbelief on his students' faces.

"Naruto."

Naruto halted his mad dash to Ichiraku's to look at Ren and the fifteen year old girl briefly noticed something she knew all too well in his eyes, fear, before it disappeared, replaced by that fake, annoying smile that irritated her to no end.

"What?"

"Meet me at Training Ground 22 at 6, I want to work more on your basic kata and finding a style suited to you. I've said it more than once; your taijutsu is absolutely horrendous. I'm curious as to what those academy teachers have taught to you. If the new ones are anything like your team, then I'm willing to bet a year's salary any rookie coming out of the Academy will be slaughtered within the first couple years." She cut off, muttering softly to herself, "Honestly, what did they teach you guys, how to get yourselves killed in battle?"

A snicker, courtesy of Sakura, that stopped abruptly as she realized Ren was talking about them as well. A grunt from Sasuke as he left. A calculating look from Kakashi that she ignored. An indignant squawk from Naruto followed by a fleeting surprised/suspicious look that told Ren he was astonished that someone was willing to take any time off to help the 'demon brat' get stronger before it was (again) replaced by that mask.

"REALLY? THANKS! Training ground 22 at 6, right? Ha! Beat that teme!"

"BAKA-NARUTO! Sasuke-kun doesn't need help! And she was insulting you! Don't you get it?" A bump appeared on Naruto's head. Another hurt look before it, once again, was replaced by that innocent grin.

Ren grit her teeth before shaking it off. She had work to do if she wanted to straighten out the mess that was no doubt the boy's damaged mind.

_~~~ To Be Continued ~~~_

FIRST FANFICTION CHAPTER FINISHED! (Though it wasn't much of a chapter)

Next chapter: **Meeting**

When Ren returns to her apartment, she recalls how she had gotten roped into training Team 7, her first impressions of the team, her observations about them, and what happened to change her original opinions about Naruto.

Did you like it? Was it too wordy? I try not to outright state personal details about Ren because I want her to appear as a person with a lot of secrets and hint that not all of them are pretty.

So far, you should have gathered that Ren is a 15-year old Tokubetsu Jonin assigned to teach Team 7 taijutsu (because their's sucks... horribly).

By the way, this fic is _not_ NarutoxRen. Their actual relationship is described later on. There will be romance, but it will be light; not with each other (pairings are secret). This focuses more on Naruto and Ren's friendship and how it affects the world (In other words, Naruto and Ren centric). Also, Ren is not her real name; you'll find out later why, but she will be referred to most of the time as 'Ren' whether they know her real name or not (with the exemption of few). In addition, just because her opinions of the team are harsh does_ not_ mean this is chock full of character bashing (there is slight Sakura bash); it's just how Ren is, blunt to a fault (though she keeps many opinions to herself). ~~~ Just a warning so your expectations don't go the wrong way.

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


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